27 Drafts
Simone Engelen
Simone Engelen is an Amsterdam based artist. 27 Drafts is a report of a road trip that she and her mother took to the U.S. Purpose of the trip was to relive and process a traumatic experience from Simone’s past.
In 2006, during a high school exchange year in the U.S., Simone Engelen was sexually abused by two individuals. The years that folowed, she tried to block out all memories about this experience. This led her to develop coping mechanisms such as addiction and control issues, and deeply influenced how she interacts with others and how she perceives intimacy. In 2022 she decided to go back to the U.S. with her mother to find closure. It became a road trip through time, in which she used her camera as a filter to create the distance she needed to engage in conversations long avoided.
27 Drafts is a relatively slim softcover book. The cover shows a jumble of handwritten lines of text, written over and over. As a viewer you are unable to read the text. It refers to the title: 27 Drafts. It represents the number of attempts Simone has made to put the impact of the assault into words. The same text reappears later. Some of it in Dutch, some in English. It refers to the attempts she has made to put the impact of the assault into words.
Inside, the images are mostly printed full bleed on black paper, often going across the gutter. There are no page numbers or captions, creating a continuous visual flow. The book starts with the usual images belonging to a road trip: the surroundings, the road and the car. But gradually the atmosphere changes. Engelen’s photographs get rawer, evoking a nightmare. Some of the pictures are mixed with excerpts from Engelen’s diary. Some of it in Dutch, some in English. The words “fear”,”pain”,”anger” and “lover” jump out.
27 Drafts is a deeply courageous photobook, an intimate personal journey from trauma back to healing.
27 Drafts
Photographer: Simone Engelen
Published in 2024 by FW: Books
Cahier, 24 x 28 cm, 108 pages
Shortlisted for the 2024 Paris Photo – Aperture First Photobook Award